Lore of Nutrition: Challenging conventional dietary beliefs

by Tim Noakes

of Technology Faculty of Health and Environmental Sciences and a registered dietitian and director of a private practice. She graduated from UCT with an honour’s degree in nutrition and dietetics. She also has a master’s degree in sports nutrition and a doctorate in weight loss from AUT. While she is an expert in sports nutrition and LCHF for optimum athletic performance, Zinn specialises in ‘diabesity’, a term coined by doctors for the twin global epidemics of diabetes and obesity. With more than 21 years’ experience as a nutritionist and registered dietitian, Zinn’s views on diet have evolved alongside the research and science of nutrition. Many experts have ‘got it all wrong with existing high-carb, low-fat guidelines’, she says. Zinn is a ‘whole-food’ advocate. She believes that everyone can benefit from eating foods that are lower in carbohydrate and higher in healthy fat than the current guidelines recommend. She has done ground-breaking work on hyperinsulinaemia,3 an under-recognised, poorly diagnosed but highly prevalent condition, which a low-carb diet can alleviate. She has also co-authored books on nutrition with New Zealand nutrition scientist Professor Grant Schofield, including What The Fat?